| 1. "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition..." Barack Obama .....
2. "One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain." By Thomas Sowell

May 2010

October 2010 will be a difficult month. Why? So many conferences and exhibitions that people like you and me want to participate in whether we present on and/or deal with trends, innovative services, pros and cons, and what next? Or exhibit, sponsor or other. Our company will be at all of the following.

Are you a small business in Florida, Alabama, or Georgia? Send your decision makers to ITEC June 22, 2010 in Miami, Florida free. All CXOs and decison-making managers can participate free. But wait, are you a potential supplier for businesses in Florida, Alabama, or Georgia? Consider exhibiting or sponsoring NOW...

"THE Financial Mail reported, on 23 April, 2010 on three new hotels for the inner city - a 120-room four-star hotel in Marshall Street, near Rissik Street in Johannesburg, opening in May; a 50-room five-star hotel near AAC headquarters and the Standard Bank superblock, which will follow later; and then, next year, a 150-room hotel in the same vicinity.

These are to be branded as Reef Hotels, developed by Isaac Chalumbira and hotelier Gustav Krampe.

The units offer an open plan kitchen design, great finishes, VoIP telephones, internet and DSTV connections and a safe environment via 24 hour security, fingerprint access, street patrollers and a shuttle service into the CBD. Hey, the new stuff in the inner city, even if it is recycled, is offering much, much more than it used to."

What is DSTV? It is digital satellite television. It is MultiChoice's multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa. It started up in 1995, the same time as Vocaltec's Internet Phone in Israel.

In South Africa and neighbouring countries, it broadcasts on Ku band via the Intelsat 7 and 10 satellite (PAS7 and PAS10), which require a small satellite dish. Other countries in the rest of Africa receive broadcasts via both Ku band and C-Band which requires a larger 1.2m dish.

Note by the author Suzanne Lombard: This is an excerpt of the tiny 26 page book written and published by me in 2002 with the goal to inspire people and organizations to study and practice English, use the Internet, voIP, and start a call center or back office in South Asia.

This version was targeted more to Pakistan. Some of the URLs and information are outdated, but I still get emails, IMs, Facebook wall notes and voip calls from those who have read it and tell me they are somewhere in the process of starting or working with a call center or back office: studying English, getting Internet, using voIP, and putting food on the table at home.

In the year 2000, major research firms predicted that by 2003 approximately US$60 billion was expected to be spent on call center services worldwide. It's a reality, and how much of that action does Pakistan have? How much does it deserve to have?

In my Linkedin network, a dear industry friend asked me, "How are things working out for you? With the rapidly shrinking VoIP prices, and free everywhere, can you make it happen?"

I responded with my normal long-winded manner:

We never were a rich company, but I think we have been pioneers and have a true entrepreneurial spirt. People say our customer service and marketing is good. They say we need to improve the language on our websites. I need to get a login to edit them because I know what needs to be changed.

(Be sure to sign up yourself or others who you think should be a part of Jeff's new book. The URL is after the two videos.)

So ... watch the two videos, read the inspiring message from Jeff today about a book he plans to write and decide for yourself. Some of the statements that stand out in the videos to me the most are ...

Robert L. Heilbroner, American economist and historian of economic thought said, "It is by the process of handing money around --- taking in each other's wash, it has been described --- that the economy is constantly revitalized."

The opening reception of ITW is 5:30 PM May 23, 2010 Sunday. We'll get to hear President Bill Clinton speak. Euromoney, the group producing ITW this year, is already taking questions for him to answer! After the speech, we're going out to eat near the Marriot Wardman Hotel in DC.

Help us choose which? We need to reserve space. It will be Dutch treat with any kind of food/drink ... just must be fun. Comment here, or tweet back to @suzannebowen ... let us know if you want to join us.